I'm not sure if I agree with the OP's post - it may have a fundamental flaw. From a Darwinian approach, the primary goal is to secure yourself and your progeny. Even the rutting animals in the forest do that. What the OP is proposing is a higher ideal that incorporates a spiritual component. BUT, it is linked to an economic one, which by necessity means material things. One hand clutching the ground, the other reaching for the sky... Bill Gates is a good example of a midpoint - (though you may have to turn a blind eye to some of Microsoft's business practices) - because his business contribution actually helped grow the economic pie, rather than just redistribute it. Enron traders "stealing from grandma" in the Calif energy crises may have given to charity, but so what? Doesn't count. So the OP's proposition may be limited in it's success by founding itself more on material aspects than spiritual, IMO. food for thought tho...
LOL, talking about India and no idea about it's cultural ethos. The nation was ruled, raped, and looted for a thousand years by barbaric trying to punish the pagans. It's still ruled by the Parsi Gandhis. Some say Hinduism is the oldest surviving religion, contributing zero, pythagoras theorem, yoga, ayurveda, tantra etc. But it's not. The present day Hinduism has nothing similar to it's ancient practices. Currently in India, Muslims are the loyal and vulnerable vote bank and most favored in national policies and comissions. Manmohan Singh quoted something like " Muslims hold the first right to country's resources" in a recent election rally. Okay, enough of crap. Read about Chanakya and his book Chanakya Neeti. Very good concepts about economics and life.
I entirely agree with you. Though, just want to point out that the oldest proof of pythagoras theorem known belonged to the egyptians in the middle kingdom and the babylonians had a concept of zero. In either case, even if they were first, what does it matter. The very fact that the theorems bare greek names is an important thing: it's not entirely relevant who first discovered something, but it's who first found wide spread use for it that matters. The vikings might have landed on north america first, but that's no where nearly as important as the colonies. In short, Hinduism, like every other religion in the world, have been responsible for atrocities as well as good. There's no more salvation in a Hindu economic system than there is in communism or imposed catholic charity.
I'm on my workstation right now, will look again later at my reference for origins of zero and pythagoras theorem.
Yep. Moreover, it's pretty hard to show that it's hindu spirtuality that led to their golden age. I seem to recall a few rather bloody wars of conquests (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka, for example, but he's ... wait for this... Buddhist, of all things). The scientific advancement of a society is not solely a result of its religion. It's also a function of its geopolitical stability, infrastructures, trade, wealth, etc. The op seem to want to simplify everything down to a quote from a guru.
Actually, I was thinking that we need not go too far... Don't we already have a very similar attempt at moral economics on record? I am talking about Islamic economics and the ill-fated attempt to implement it in Iran. There's lessons to be learned there that are directly applicable to the OP's ideas...
yes. They still have a very hard life in most circumstances. Here is the wikipedia on South Asia's untouchables or "Dalits" There is still widespread poor treatment of them. Worth a read or skim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit
It's so off topic, but your ignorance is provocative. Read about Mayawati(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayawati). Dalits and Muslims are the most favored vote bank in the last 60 years of India's Politics and Power. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India
'Some say Hinduism is the oldest surviving religion' That is wrong, the oldest surviving religion is Shivaism i.e. worship of Shiva, it predates to 10,000 or more years. Hinduism is an offshoot of Shivaism. There is no caste or hierarchy in Shivaism, every devotee is the same. Hinduism practiced today is in a very corrupt form and hence the state of India as it is.